SEQUESTRATION OF RNA IN ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE NEUROFIBRILLARY TANGLES AND SENILE PLAQUES

Citation
Sd. Ginsberg et al., SEQUESTRATION OF RNA IN ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE NEUROFIBRILLARY TANGLES AND SENILE PLAQUES, Annals of neurology, 41(2), 1997, pp. 200-209
Citations number
51
Categorie Soggetti
Clinical Neurology",Neurosciences
Journal title
ISSN journal
03645134
Volume
41
Issue
2
Year of publication
1997
Pages
200 - 209
Database
ISI
SICI code
0364-5134(1997)41:2<200:SORIAN>2.0.ZU;2-7
Abstract
The polypeptide composition of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) and seni le plaques (SPs) has been characterized extensively within the Alzheim er's disease (AD) brain. Because few data exist on the nonproteinaceou s components of these lesions, we sought to determine if NFTs, neuropi l threads (NTs), and SPs contain RNA species. To accomplish this, acri dine orange (AO) histofluorescence was employed, alone or in combinati on with thioflavine S (TS) staining and immunohistochemistry to identi fy RNAs in paraffin-embedded tissue sections of hippocampus and entorh inal cortex. Postmortem brain samples came from 32 subjects including AD and elderly Down's syndrome (DS) patients, age-matched normal contr ols, and non-AD diseased controls. AO stained the cytoplasm of normal hippocampal and entorhinal neurons in all of the cases, while NFTs, NT s, and SPs were AO-positive in the same regions of AD and DS brains. C ytoplasmic AO histofluorescence was abolished with RNase, but not DNas e or proteinase K, indicating the relative specificity of AO for RNA s pecies. Quantitative analysis of double-labeled sections demonstrated that approximately 80% of TS-positive NFTs also were AO-positive, wher eas approximately 55% of TS-stained SPs contained AO labeling. These n ovel observations demonstrate the presence of RNAs in NFTs, NTs, and S Ps.